“The road was only one lane each way and I was going
the limit. This black SUV acted like it was going to pass me, then it swerved
and hit me. Just once.”
“Did you see the plate?”
“No. He hit his front right to my back left. I did see
a broken headlight. I went into a ditch, rolled and ended up upside down. I
want Eve to get protection, 24/7.”
“I’ll see to it. You have my word.”
“Your word is good. I… I’m glad it’s you, looking for
this guy. Thank you.”
His hand lay on the edge of the bed, just inches away
and she wanted to touch him. Touch that face nearly every woman he’d ever met
found impossible to resist.
Including me
. But because she remembered
every word he’d said that night, she knew the one woman who’d somehow failed to
fall at his feet was the only one he’d ever wanted.
Because she had her pride, Olivia kept her hands to
herself. “We’ll take care of Eve,” she said briskly. “I’ll leave my number with
the nurse. Call if you remember anything.”
She’d turned to go when he stopped her.
“Olivia, wait. There’s something else you need to
know.”
*
Eve hadn’t needed anyone to tell her Noah had entered
David’s room. She’d felt him watching her, just as he’d watched her all those
months. When they were in the hall, she turned to him, her hands slipping under
his coat, holding on to the warmth of his back. His arms closed around her like
steel bands and he held her, saying nothing.
Her cheek pressed against his chest, she rested. He
laid his cheek against her head and she felt him settle.
This is what I’ve
missed
, she thought.
This is what they found. Caroline, Dana, Mia. They
found a place to rest. To be safe. To not be alone.
Deep down Eve wished it could last. Deep down she let
herself hope, just a little.
“I was scared to death when you didn’t answer your
phone,” he murmured. “Please don’t do that to me again.”
Having someone worry over her was nothing new. But
having someone like Noah worry was very new. It should feel constricting.
Debilitating. But it didn’t. It felt warm, welcoming, like a cozy fire on a
cold day.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I was talking to the real
Buckland’s boss.”
“I know. Olivia told me.”
She pressed her face harder against him. “What could
make him hate you so much, hate Looey so much? My God, Noah, Looey’s probably
dead.”
“I know,” he whispered. “We’ll figure it out. Until
then, you don’t leave my sight.”
“Okay.” She held on to him until Olivia came into the
hall and cleared her throat.
“He wants to talk to you, Noah,” she said. “Come on,
Eve, I’ll get you that coffee.”
Noah rested his hands on the rail at Hunter’s side. “You
don’t look too bad.”
Hunter was lying back, eyes closed. “If it had been
Eve in that car, she would be dead. She doesn’t have the strength in her hand
to have fought with the wheel.”
Noah blew out a breath. “I know. I also know Olivia’s
a damn good cop. She’s on it.”
“Last night I asked Eve if anybody’s looking at this
guy for the Shadowland murders. I said the timing was too coincidental. She
said it was in your mind.”
“It is. And I know it’s in Liv’s, too. We’ll be
working this together.”
“Well, here’s another piece. I just told Olivia.
Monday night when you came by, I’d put in those baby monitor cameras.”
“The pink ones. I remember.”
“Eve thought it was because of the Shadowland thing,
that I was being overzealous. I didn’t tell her this, didn’t want her to worry
any more than she already was. She told you she’d been having issues with her
landlord?”
“She said her roof leaked.”
“Yeah, well, he’s pretty much let the place go to pot.
When I first got there, when I was waiting for her to come back? I went up on
the roof to check out the damage. The holes I found were man-made.”
Noah stared down at him. “You think her landlord’s
behind all this?”
“God, I don’t know. I almost didn’t say anything
because it sounds so crazy.”
“No, it’s good you did,” Noah said. “Olivia and I will
check it out.”
“Olivia said Eve would get police protection.”
Grimly Noah recalled the terror that had ripped him
inside out until she’d answered her phone, until he’d heard her voice. Known
she was all right. “Yes.”
Me.
Hunter met Noah’s eyes with his open one. “Other than
you?”
“Yes. If that’s what she wants. Otherwise, it’ll be
me.”
“Okay. I told her to give you a chance, but I want it
to be her decision. I don’t want her to feel for—” Hunter froze. “What is this
ring?”
Noah looked down at his own right hand on the side
rail. “My college ring. Why?”
“I never saw his face, but I saw his hands. I looked
over as he was coming up on me and I saw his hand on the steering wheel. He had
tinted windows on the sides and back, but not on the windshield, so I could see
him. Just barely.”
Noah’s pulse jolted.
Something they could use
.
“I take it he wore a ring like mine.”
“Yeah,” Hunter said grimly. “Just like that one.”
“It’s a common design, but a place to start. I’ll tell
Olivia and see where we end up.”
“Excuse me, Detective.” A nurse pushed in front of
him. “Mr. Hunter has to go up to get his CAT scan now. You can wait in the
waiting room.”
“Okay,” Noah said, then leaned over the rail. “Don’t
worry. She’ll be safe with me.”
Eve handed Noah a cup of coffee from the vending
machine when he rejoined them. “Extra sugar. Probably not sweet enough, but the
best you’ll get from a machine.”
“Thank you,” he said. “Come on, let’s find a place for
the three of us to talk.”
“Eve,” Olivia started when they’d found a quiet corner
of the waiting room, “I know you think he’s got Noah in his sights and you got
in the way, but we have to look at the possibility that you could be the
target.”
“Look at it all you want,” Eve said. “It’s not me.”
“Still,” Noah said, “we want you to make a list of
everybody that might want to hurt you or has a grudge against you. Include your
landlord.”
Eve’s eyes widened. “You’ve got to be kidding. Myron
Daulton? If David said that, he hit his head harder than we thought.”
“You’re blocking Daulton from selling that building
and making a bundle,” Noah said.
“I know, but…” Eve sighed. “Okay, I’ll make a list.
But that guy posing as Buckland is not Myron Daulton, I can tell you that right
now. Myron’s about fifty and built like Homer Simpson. What about prints? Did
you get any from what I gave you?”
“He’s not in the system,” Olivia said. “We ran the
prints on that business card and the copy of that old photo you brought me,
Eve. They matched prints we found in Looey’s place, so we can put him there,
but no match in AFIS.”
Noah’s brows shot up. “You were busy today,” he said
to Eve.
“I’ve had my moments,” Eve said dryly. “I want to know
why he impersonated Looey to start with and if this
is
personal about
you, Noah—which it is—what did you do to this guy? Or what does he think you
did? I’ve seen a killer bent on revenge up close, and this guy was all about
revenge. About showing you up and making you pay.”
“You and Jack should go back through your old cases,”
Olivia said. “For the record.”
“If Jack and I arrested him, he would have shown up in
AFIS.”
“Not if he was a juvenile at the time,” Eve said. “Or
the revenge is for someone else.”
Olivia and Noah shared an amused glance. “You want my
job, Eve?” Olivia asked.
Eve smiled sadly. “You have no idea how much. But bum
hand, so no can do.”
Olivia patted Eve’s knee. “It’s overrated. And you
can’t chase your own demons. You gotta be satisfied with chasing everybody
else’s.” She looked back at Noah. “It’s almost time for Abbott’s five o’clock
meeting. What should we do with Eve?”
“She has to come with us,” Noah said.
“Excuse me,” Eve said. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m
staying here, with David.”
“The doctors won’t let you stay with him,” Noah said.
“They’ll watch him overnight and they’ll make you leave. Plus you’re having
dinner with me.”
Night off.
Callie.
“What about my friend,
Callie? He has her cell phone number. He may know where she lives.” She heard
the panic in her voice and swallowed it back.
Olivia frowned. “How did he get her cell phone
number?”
“Jeremy Lyons. He didn’t believe me yesterday morning
so he told the reporter-guy how to get in touch with my friends, who’d give him
the real story.”
“Where’s Callie now?” Olivia asked.
“Taking my shift at Sal’s.”
Olivia nodded. “Then she’s safe where she is. I’ll
make sure the word gets out that if he shows up at Sal’s, they should keep him
there. I’ll have someone escort her home. As for you, we’ll leave you here if
you do not leave the waiting room. We’ll give hospital security a copy of the
artist’s sketch, so they’ll be watching for him.”
“I’ll stay here where it’s safe,” Eve promised. “I’m
not stupid.”
Wednesday, February 24, 4:55 p.m.
“Is Eve okay?” Jack asked when Noah sat next to him at
Abbott’s small round table.
He and Olivia had arrived for Abbott’s five o’clock
update to find everyone already gathered around the table except for Ian, who
was in the middle of an autopsy.
“Yeah. She was here at the time, actually,” Noah
answered, “working with a sketch artist to identify the guy who’s been
impersonating Kurt Buckland.”
Jack’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Somebody’s been
impersonating Kurt Buckland? When were you going to tell me this?”
Noah let out a sigh. Somewhere in his frazzled mind,
he thought he had. “I’m sorry, Jack. We haven’t had much time to talk today,
what with us driving separately.”
Abbott cleared his throat, moving over to give Olivia
a seat. “Let’s share all that in turn,” he said frowning at both Noah and Jack.
“Anything from last night’s scene?”
“We got the composition of both the accelerant he
used,” Micki said, “and the flame suppressant. Both are common brands,
available anywhere. No way to trace them. We’ve combed four scenes now,
including Samantha Altman’s after the fact. We’ve found no prints, no hairs,
nothing to track this guy forensically.”
“He’s probably shaved himself all over,” Carleton
said. “It’s common with serial killers. The really successful ones know how not
to leave a trail.”
“Thank goodness they’re overachievers,” Abbott said
sarcastically. “What about Rachel Ward? Do we know where she met this guy?”
“At the Last Call Bar,” Kane said. “We should thank
Eve, by the way. Her narrowing the list to the later-closing bars saved me a
lot of time.”
Carleton turned to Kane. “Did Rachel Ward normally
hang out at the Last Call?”
“No,” Kane said. “The bartender said he’d only seen
her last night. She was waiting for a man, and got drunker the longer she
waited. He took her keys and called her a cab. I confirmed with the cab
company. By the time the cab arrived, Rachel was gone.”
“Security cameras?” Abbott asked.
“Broken. Probably for years,” Kane replied. “No help
there. I can go back tonight and see if any of the regulars spotted anyone
hanging out in the parking lot.”
“Do that.” Abbott drew a frustrated breath. “Let me
get this straight, so that I don’t misrepresent us when I give the commander
his evening update. We have no forensics at any of the scenes. Donner’s alibied
by his wife and Girard is alibied by us. Jeremy Lyons is still missing.
Everyone else has a solid alibi, including the brother of the latest victim, or
the first victim, Amy Millhouse.”
“I thought you said you checked all the suicide
reports,” Carleton said.
“We did. But we missed it because her brother cut her
down and changed her clothes. Cleaned her face and everything,” Noah said.
“I take it you brought the brother in, then, Jack,”
Olivia said. “But he’s alibied, too?”
Jack nodded. “He’s in Interview Four with his lawyer.
He was flying back from a business trip in Chicago and I confirmed that he was
there this morning. I thought if Millhouse wasn’t in any meetings this morning
that it would have been possible for him to drive there after he killed Rachel
Ward, then fly back, establishing an alibi.”
“It would have been a clever thing to do,” Carleton
allowed. “Very much in keeping with this killer’s profile. It would have been
good thinking, Jack, had it worked.”
Jack sighed. “Thanks. But Millhouse was in meetings
from 8:00 a.m. right up until the time he left for the airport and he was in
his hotel at seven. There’s no way he could have made it from here to Chicago,
even if he’d driven straight from Rachel Ward’s house. He’s not our killer,
even though he works with glue. It would have been perfect.”